Improvement in revolving fire-arms



n. B. WESSON & J. H. BULLARD.

REVOLVING FIRE-ARM.

Patented Feb.20, 1877.

U NITED STATES DANIEL B. WESSON AND JAMES H, BULLAR'D, OF SPRINGFIELD,MASS, ASSIGNORS TO SAID WESSON.

IMPROVEMENT IN REVOLVlNGFlRE-ARMSf Specification forming part of LettersPatent No. 187,689, dated February 20, 1877; application filed January29, 1 877.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, DANIEL B. WESSON andJAMES H. BULLARD, both of Springfield, in the State of Massachusetts,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Revolving Fire-Arms; andthat the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof,reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, making apart of thisspecification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Our invention relates to that class of revolving fire-arms in which amany-chambered cylinder is used in connection with a single barrel; andit consists, first, of a projection extending down to a point in therear of the rear face of the cylinder, made upon the latch, whichsecures the barrel to the frame at the rear end of the barrel; and,second, it consists of a screw-thread and annular recess made upon thecentral stem upon which the cylinder revolves, in connection with acorresponding screw-thread made in the central hole of the cylinder, bymeans of which the cylinder is secured upon the central stem or pin uponwhich it revolves; and, third, it consists of a pawl pivoted in thelifter, by which the ejector is operated to force the shells from thecylinder, all which will be more fully hereinafter described.

Figure I is a longitudinal vertical section of a revolver made accordingto our invention. Fig. 11 is an enlarged sectional view through thecentral part of the rylinder, showing the screw'threads made in thelatter and upon the central stem; and Fig. III is a side view of thelatch which secures the rear end of the barrel to the upper part of theframe, showing the projection for preventing the cylinder from movingoff its stem.

In the drawings, A represents the frame of a revolving fire-arm, madesubstantially in the ordinary manner, in the forward part of which ispivoted the lifter I, which is arranged to operate the ejector-stem inforcing the shells from the chambers of the cylinder. The latch D, whichis pivoted, as usual, to the rear end of the barrel B, has upon itslower side a projection, a, extending down a short distance to a pointin the rear of the cylinder 0, and just behind it, when the latter is inplace upon its central stem 0; and when the latch is raised, as in theordinary movement of unlatching the barrel from the frame, theprojection a is moved upward from its position behind the cylinder, sothat the latter may then be removed from the central stem 0, if desired.

A screw-thread, It, is made on the inside of the cylinder 0, in itscentral hole, and a corresponding screw-thread, g, is made upon thecentral stem 0, with an annular recess, f, in front of it, so thatplacing the cylinder upon the stem-c, and turning the former until thescrew-thread it passes entirely through the thread 9 upon the stem andinto the annular recess f, the cylinder is then free to revolve upon thestem, the screw-thread h of the cylinder revolving around in the annularrecess f.

When thecylinder is in place, (the latch D being always down, except foran instant while being unlatched from the frame,) the small projectionon on the latch prevents the cylinder fromturning off from the stem orbeing accidentally detached.

The lifter I, which actuates the ejector-stem E, has a recess madetherein, in which is pivoted a pawl, F, provided with a smallprojection, a, and the pawl is held outward by a small spring, 7;,placed inside the pawl in the recess, so that when the barrel isunlatched from the frame and tilted downward the small projection itstrikes against the lower forward end 'of the frame A, and the lifter Iis thereby held stationary or prevented from rotating, and causing theejector-stem to move through the cylinder and eject the shells; but asthe part 11 in front of the lifter moves around it rides over theprojection 10, and forces in the swinging end of the pawl, and releasesthe lifter I from its stationary position, allowing it to rotate whenthe ejector-stem E is forced in again by its spring. This rotarymovement of the lifter 1 brings the pawl Einto the position shown indotted lines ire Fig. I and when the barrel is tilted up again, themoving part of the arm, forming the joint in which the lifter ispivoted, strikes the projection s on the lifter, and moves the latterand the pawl back to their original position, (shown in black lines in 4Fig. 1,) the pawl F being again pressed in during its backward movementby the projectionin riding against the curved front end of the frame Ain the joint. This pawl may be denominated the catch, and by making thelifter -1 with its catch pivoted therein, the

1 whole operating mechanism is more compact,

and the frame A may be made solid, and therefore much stronger.

It is obvious that it is immaterial as to whether the cylinderoscillates or revolves, so far as the operating mechanism abovedescribed is concerned, as it would be equally Having thus described ourinvention, what we claim as new is- 1. The combination of the pivotedlatch D, provided with the projection a, and the cylinder 0,substantially as and for the purpose described.

-2. The combination of the cylinder, provided with an internalscrew-thread, h, and the stem 0, provided with a correspondingscrew-thread, g, and recess f, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

3. lhe combination of the oscillating or rotating lifter I with itscatch F pivoted therein, and operating substantially as and for thepurpose described.

DANIEL B. WESSON.

. JAMES H. BULLARD.

Witnesses:

G. H. BLANDEN, G. D. CHAMBERLAIN.

